Man arrested in string of burglaries

Penne Usher/Special to the Auburn JournalHundreds of pieces of stolen jewelry, vintage lighters and watches recovered by law enforcement were made available for viewing Friday at the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office substation in the hopes that victims could identify them.

EL DORADO HILLS — A vehicle stop led to the arrest of a suspected burglar and a cache of property reportedly stolen from Placer, El Dorado and Sacramento counties.
Jason Earl Rogers, 30, of Citrus Heights, is the only one of three suspects in custody. Rogers was arrested at his home Feb. 2 by El Dorado County deputies.
Rogers is suspected of multiple burglaries in Granite Bay and El Dorado Hills.
Two other suspects remain at large. Warrants have been issued for Mark Williams and Jacob Scott Mack.
On Jan. 17, an El Dorado County sheriff deputy stopped a suspicious vehicle. The occupants were searched and released. Later a burglary was reported and the items stolen matched items that were in the vehicle.
It wasn’t until Feb. 2 that deputies did a parole search of Rogers’ residence and reportedly found the stolen property.
According to El Dorado County officials, several jewelry boxes, thousands of pieces of jewelry, men’s and women’s rings, lighters, money clips, approximately 75 men’s and women’s watches, four cameras, foreign paper money and collectable coins were among the stolen items recovered.
The recovered items were available for viewing by theft victims Friday and Monday at the El Dorado Hills sheriff’s substation at Town Center.
By noon Friday, four theft victims were able to recover their stolen property.
Julie Zul, of El Dorado Hills, came by Friday to see if she could locate a stolen ring.
Her husband had purchased a diamond and sapphire ring for their anniversary, but it was stolen before he could give it to her.
“All I have is this photo in my phone,” she said. “The ring was stolen from our car before he could give it to me.”
Zul did not find her ring among the multitude of jewelry items at the substation,
El Dorado County law enforcement, along with Rocklin, Roseville and Folsom police departments, are working to relate their unsolved burglary cases to the recovered stolen property.
“The burglars focused on Placer, El Dorado, Orangevale, Fair Oaks and committed residential burglaries where the method of entry was a door kick,” said Dena Erwin, spokesperson for the Placer County Sheriff’s Department. “El Dorado detectives knew that Placer County detectives were looking for a residential burglar who had kicked in the front doors of dozens of homes and took jewelry.”
Placer County detectives joined the search of Rogers’ home and found property belonging to many Granite Bay victims.
Because of the large volume of cases in Placer County, Rogers was extradited to Placer County Friday and is being held without bail.